In a Past Life
by Montressor
Summary: A man has a chance to become an agent for MiB...but he has something to leave behind.
1. Author's note and Chapter One: Aggy & He...

Author's note:  
  
Two things happened to me this morning. One: I woke up (not unusual), Two: I had a thought (very unusual and considered dangerous by some). This thought was realitivly harmless, as thoughts go. I realized as much as we think we know the Agents of MiB, we don't know the number one thing: what they were like before they were agents. Think about it, in the movie James doesn't exactly seem to lose much to become Agent J. Agent L didn't really ahve any friends or famiy...unless you count the bodies at the morgue (which isn't exactly a bad thing). We only get glimpses of K's previous love-life, just enough to bug people like me, and he didn't seem to have much of a choice in the matter.. So I was thinking...what if a possible agent, had someone to leave behind, had a choice? Since my thoughts usually make my head hurt until I write themdown that's what I've done. Review flame, whatever. It's not perfect and it gets kinda sappy near the end, but that happens.  
  
Onto the story  
  
*********************  
Chapter 1:  
  
"Aggy wait! Aggy?! Agatha !"  
  
Agatha Reynolds stopped her bike and waited for Henry Thompson to finish catching up. Aggy was a childish twenty-three year old, with a hint of Californian tan, brown eyes and shortly cropped rust-colored hair. She had been friends with Henry since they were high school freshman in Southern California and at first glance bystanders often wondered why. Aggy's closthes were almost always second hand, the bike she rode was a remnants of the late 80's/ early 90's ; blue with a banana seat that was pedaled backwards for brakes. She had even strung a metal basket between the handle bars. Henry , about 25 years-old, had Greek features, brown hair and grey eyes. He dressed in the newest set of fashionable clothes, and rode the latest design in mountain bikes. Why did they hang out with each other for so long? Simple, they both answered, they liked each other's company.  
  
Henry caught up and stopped alongside her, smiling. "No fair. You cheated."  
  
"I thought you said you could keep up." Said Aggy, returning his grin as she lifted her foot from the ground and rode in slow circles around the New York cop.  
  
"I could, but you cheat."  
  
"Nothin' like tha'."  
  
"It is too. When you say one two and then leave before three it's cheating!"  
  
"I said three 'fore I left you jus' didn't hear me."  
  
"You did that on purpose."  
  
"Did I?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"We'll do't 'gain."  
  
"Not now, I need a break first." Henry broke through Aggy's circle and started back along the path. She caught up with him and said. "So?"  
  
"So what?"  
  
"Are ya gonna go?"  
  
"I dunno. Whata ya think?"  
  
"I think yer nuts. In th' middle of the nights some wacko lady in black drives up with another dude in a black in a big ol' black car, asks ya questions ya can't remember, tells ya to go somewhere for a test then leaves. Ya shoulda plugged 'em."  
  
"That's yer answer ta everything."  
  
"An' sometimes it's a very good answer. Thank ya much."  
  
"It's not my job to shoot every nutjob I meet. If I did that half the City would be gone."  
  
" There goes the overpopulation problem."  
  
"And besides that's not all that happened. " Henry pulled off the trail again and reached into one of his jacket pockets. "Look." He handed Aggy a plain white business card. On one side was a handwritten address, 504 Battery Drive. On the other side were there printed block letters MiB.  
  
"So, Oh Mistress of the Secret Scribbles, what can you tell me about the lady?"  
  
"This is her writin'?"  
  
"Saw her do it m'self."  
  
Aggy 's mood shifted quickly. She went from a fun child to a serious adult, brooding over the small white cardboard. " Vertical slant...even spacing...strict margins...good use of all three zones...why they used handwriting instead of printing I dun know..." She handed him back the card. "I'd say she's got some big ol' secret ta hide. And seems ta be making a big effort to make herself...unrecognizable. She's tryin' 'ard to be like everyone else, though I dunno why. Are ya going?" She asked again.  
  
"You think I should?"  
  
"I guess it couldn't hurt if we went..just ta see ya know."  
  
"We?"  
  
"Ya. Ya dun think I'm letting you go 'lone do ya?"  
  
"Aggy...I'm supposed to go alone. Battery Drive's not that dangerous."  
  
"But if'n these people is tryin' to trap ya..."  
  
"Aggy...kid...I'll tell you what ....I'll go tomorrow. Just to see. If I haven't called you after sunset, call at the station and someone there will look into it."  
  
"But–"  
"Do Not, under ANY circumstances, come looking for me."  
  
"Bu' 'enry–"  
  
"Agatha. If something happens to me there I dun want somethin' happening to you too."  
  
"I can take–"  
  
"Care of yerself I know . But you live in New Hampstead. That's different than the City, different than Battery Drive." Aggy looked ready to argue again. "Aggy please..it's just a test. I 've lived this long, I'm sure I gotta couple more good years in me."  
  
Aggy stared at her friend for a long time. "Fine." She sputtered out and remounted her bike. "One...two..." She took off down the road. "Nine..ten!" 


	2. The Catch

Henry watched the setting sun through the tinted windows of the Ford car. The driver next to him kept prattling on about how eventually he would get used to the idea, the hours. Get used to it. Henry wasn't sure if he could get used to anything anymore.   
  
The tests hadn't been very hard. The first part was a simple fill-out-these-forms deal. Then there was that awkward shooting gallery, with the girl surrounded by monsters. He wasn't sure whether or not he should be glad he was sidetracked from the eye exam at the end.  
  
And then the news. The world was peopled by aliens, not just humans. He had been chosen as "the Best of the Best of the Best", to become one of a group of humans whose job was to police those who weren't native to this planet. He struggled to think of how he had come to be thought of as the Best in anything. He searched back in his mind but all he saw was the women in black and a flash of light. What had he told her?  
  
"Agent... J is it?" He prompted, interrupting the driver's monologue about worms.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"What's the catch?"  
  
"Catch?"  
  
"Yes, the catch. There's something you're not telling me about it and I want to know what it is."  
  
Agent J was silent the said. "The catch. It's very simple. You don't exist."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"When you become an agent, you lose your identity. You leave your old life behind basically. No one will every know you exist. No one, not your friends, not your family, not your dog, no one."  
  
Shock settled into the pit of Henry's stomach. "Aggy." the name escaped his lips.  
  
"Girlfriend huh?"  
  
"Hm? Oh no...I... we're...just friends. But we've known each other for a long time."  
  
"I get it." Silence reigned for a while. The car slid into a free space in front of Henry's city apartment. Agent J turned to his passenger.  
  
"Look, this isn't an easy choice. It wasn't really for me either and I didn't have much to leave. So I tell you what, I'm gonna give you more time than I had. Think it over. Day after tomorrow, if you decide to join, come back to the building."   
  
Henry sighed and stepped out of the car. "Thanks for the ride."  
  
"Good luck." 


	3. Decisions

Henry spent the next few hours laying fully clothed on his bed, staring at the stucco ceiling. He could have the job of a lifetime, only he'd have to give up life to do it. The weight of it all still hadn't registered in his mind. His parents and younger sister he could easily leave. They were all the way in California and hated him for abandoning them for the East anyway. He couldn't see himself as the center of his job, they could survive without him. After taking stock, Henry couldn't see nay reason not to take the job. But something was holding him back.  
  
  
At three o'clock in the morning, there was a loud knock on the door. He forced himself out of bed and shuffled to the door. Aggy stood before him in a overly large beige raincoat. Relief flooded her face first, than anger.  
  
"Oh, a young lady walking in the City in the middle of the night unarmed, that's smart." Drawled Henry.  
  
"I'm never unarmed." She responded, slipping a butterfly knife from one of her pockets. "And don't bull me right now. Whare've you been?" She sidled past him.  
"I told you not to come looking for me." Henry said, closing the door after her. It was useless to try to force her to leave.  
  
"Whare were you?"  
  
"I was taking the tests."  
  
She plopped down on his futon. "Well?"  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Didcha get it?"  
  
"Want some coffee." He headed towards the kitchen  
  
"Henry!"  
  
"Yes...I mean I think I got it."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Wanna beer? Soda?"  
  
"Henry!" Aggy wrinkled her nose at the mention of alcohol. "Water." She watched as he returned with a can of Pepsi and a bottle of Dasani. He sat next to her. "Whata ya mean ya think ya got it?"  
  
"You sure you just wanna be a graphologist, not a detective? You ask enough questions." Henry tried a weak grin, but she fixed him with a stare that wiped it off his face. "Alright. Look, they said I could have the job. And it's a good job, but..."   
  
" But what? Lousy hours?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Crappy pay?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You have to change your name to Jimmy Crack Corn."  
  
"No." Henry chuckled.  
  
"You've gotta test and see if the milk's bad."  
"No."  
  
"Their gonna put yer brain in the head of a goat."  
  
"N-what? Why a goat?"  
  
Aggy shrugged. "Everyone likes goats."  
  
"Well it's not that." He laughed.  
  
"Oh." A grin spread across her face as she tried to think. " You gotta sing Suddenly Seymour in French..backwards."  
  
"No!"  
  
"Ya gotta join the Polar Bears?"  
  
"No."  
  
"The Masons?"  
  
"No."  
  
"The Froggers?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"I dunno it just sounded good."  
  
"Does it involve wearing a red dress and the vacuum guy?"  
  
"No!" Aggy smiled to see her friend laugh again and waited as he calmed down enough to say. "No it's none of that. It's just...there's a catch to working for them."  
  
"So it does involve a dress!!"  
  
"No, and it doesn't involved Hoover either."  
  
Aggy toyed with a piece of hair. "Hmmm...is it bigger than a breadbox?"  
  
"A lot."  
  
She reclined on the futon, thinking. Henry watched her over the rim of his Pepsi can. Maybe it was just the crises of the moment, maybe it was the way the light fell, maybe it was just because he hadn't slept. Suddenly he realized she looked ...pretty. Not beautiful of course, but...attractive. She had a nice smile, her eyes kind of lit up whenever he was around. And he couldn't help feeling something more than comfort at the worried look on her face when he'd opened the door.   
  
"Right, I've got it!" She said triumphantly.  
  
"Hm? Well?"  
  
"Oh..no ..wait... I don't. What's the catch?"  
  
"I'm going to have to...go away."  
  
"Cool, where we goin'?"  
  
"Not "we", I'm going to go. Alone."  
  
"Oh." Aggy looked disappointed for a moment but it was only for a moment. "So where ya going?"  
  
"I..I can't say. "  
  
"A secret?"  
  
"Yes. But...not only do I have to leave... I can't have any contact with anyone."  
  
"Secret agent?"  
  
"Sort of ."   
  
Aggy laughed at this, a sound that cut deep into the knot already forming in Henry's gut. She stopped when she noticed how serious he looked.   
  
"Ya mean it than?" He nodded. "Well than, we best get started."  
  
"On what?"  
  
"On a way we could talk without no one knowing, ya know secret agent style." She stood up to look for paper and pencil.  
  
"No, Aggy. I won't be allowed to contact anyone. No one, not even you. Do you understand that?"  
  
"Of course I understand, I'm trying to be in denial here d'ya mind?" Her voice cracked. She stopped, cleared her throat and said, in a voice that was softer, more controlled. "So...d'ya want the job?"  
"It's a good job."  
  
"'S not what I asked."  
  
"Yes I want the job."  
  
"Then that's it then."  
  
"No it's not. I'm not sure if I should take it."  
  
"Can ya tell me what it is least?"  
  
He did. He explained about how the planet was a refuge for aliens, how there were people in charge of protecting humans and aliens from each other, how he had been chosen to be one of those protectors. It sounded so strange and unreal out loud. Aggy listened closely, her eyes on his, searching for a lie at first, than trying to gauge his reaction. He told about the work to be done, the people involved..and the catch. She licked her lips as he finished. And said, quietly. "Sounds like a good job."  
  
"It does."  
  
"You'd be helpin' a lotta people ya know?"  
  
"I know."  
  
"Seems like an honor."  
  
"S'ppose it is."  
  
There was silence for a few moments. Aggy stared at the unopened water bottle and said. "I think ya should do it."  
  
Henry stared at her. She continued. "Seriously. It's a good job, you'll be helping people. An' you dun have much ta leave anyways."  
  
~~Except you.~~ He wanted to say, but couldn't, the thought of it was bad enough, putting words to it would just make it true.  
  
"I dunno if I want to."  
  
Aggy sighed and looked at him, once again the serious adult. "Henry Thompson. You have been chosen as the top of all classes, ta do something that is obviously gonna be more worth your time and talents than your job now. If you dun take this job, I'll hate you ferever."  
  
~~ And if you don't take it she won't know you enough to hate you~~ said the air between them.  
  
"You won't let this go?"  
  
"You want the job, I can see it. They gave you all them tests to see if someone was up to it. You were the only one who was."  
  
Again a long silence stretched between them.   
  
"Well...you got how long 'fore ya gotta head done thare?"  
  
"Hm? Uh...he said day after today."  
  
"Tomorrow."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's four-thirty in the morning. You were told all this yesterday. So you have to go tomorrow."  
  
"Stop trying to confuse me with logic. " Aggy smiled.  
  
"So what'll we to till tomorrow than? Or is it we still?"  
  
"It's still we. I'm going to bed." Henry said, standing up and gathering up his empty soda can. "You, for once, are going to listen to me and stay here the rest of the night."  
  
"I always listen."  
  
"Well this time yer actually gonna do what I tell ya."  
  
"Why spoil an' old habit?" She said, but a light glittered in her eyes. She would stay.  
  
"You can have the futon."  
  
"Lucky me."  
  
*****  
  
They had intended to spent the last day as if nothing were wrong but it didn't work out that way. Henry picked up his friend at the house in New Hampstead where she rented a room around noon. They spent the rest of the day racing along any park trails they could find, and making up some new ones. They splurged on lunch and and dinner. Lunch was at a place that wasn't Tavern on the Green, but was fancy enough. They took dinner at a nearby McDonald's, for a change of pace. After dark was a double movie feature at Henry's apartment: His only TV with a VCR was in the bedroom. Neither had any problems with sitting in there to watch TV, they'd been doing that with no problems since Junior year. They watched Psycho (the god one not the new one) in a transfixed sate. Then it was Sunset Boulevard, a movie they never payed attention to because they were too busy making jokes about Norma's dead chimp having any husbands. But midnight they were tired, but in willing to move from where they sat, him on the bed, her in one of the chairs armchairs they'd dragged in.  
  
They must have fallen asleep, the next thing Henry could remember is walking up to the annoying sound of a static-filled TV. The red numbers and the clock by his bed said 6 o'clock. The sun was just coming up. He crawled out of bed, washed up, dressed neatly. He noticed Aggy , stilled curled up in the armchair, shivering slightly. Might as well give her someplace comfortable to sleep. Carefully he picked her up, like a child. One of her arms unfolded and draped itself around his neck. As he placed her in the bed, she stirred a bit at this and blinked up at him.  
  
"'S time?" She murmured, barely a whisper. Henry couldn't speak, so he nodded. Bye then."  
  
"G'bye." her friend replied and told himself to leave.   
  
"Hol' on sec." That stopped him. The arm around his neck tightened a bit as Aggy lifted herself just enough to bring their faces together. Her lips rested for a moment at the edges of his lips and she let go. "Fer luck."  
  
"Thanks." he said, kissing the bridge of her nose. Agatha sighed and closed her eyes. Henry placed the blankets around her, stared for a moment, and walked out the door towards 45 Battery Drive.   
**********  
Aggy hadn't wanted to sleep. She what would happen, she'd wake up and not remember him. She didn't want to forget. Sleep was winning the battle though, so she grabbed and held onto the memories that she had. She didn't want to forget.   
  
Aggy fell asleep in Henry's bed at seven o'clock in the morning.   
  
At ten o'clock the alarm went off, announcing there was an hour left to get to class. Agatha Reynolds woke in her bed from a half-remembered dream in which someone kissed the bridge of her nose. 


	4. Deja Vu (also titled Agatha and Agent H)

At eight o'clock in the morning Henry Thompson vanished into a building at 45 Battery Drive. That was almost a year ago. Agent H hadn't had much time to think about that day since. Not with all he had to do. A clean-cut man in a black suit, with Greek features, unremarkably brown hair, forgettable grey eyes. He walked, almost marched, up to the newsstand in the corner and began looking through the aptly named "hot sheets." A sharp yell and a grunt made him turn in time to catch a person who almost been pushed into traffic. The bag they were carrying fell instead, spilling a book on graphology.   
  
"Ya jackass!" She yelled. It was a she; a human female. With long rust colored hair, a hint of California tan, and deep brown eyes. Agent H helped her stand.   
  
"Thanks." she grumbled, wiping off her clothes nervously.  
  
"No problem." the agent responded and turned back to the newsstand.  
  
"Look, long's I'm 'ere might's well..." the woman continued, grabbing a few of the hot sheets herself. "Some'in' ta read durin' class." She laughed. A knot had formed in the agent's gut and that laugh drove a knife through it. Her smile faded a bit as she focused on him. "Strange...I could swear...d' I know you?"  
  
Agent H stared at her for a long while before speaking. His voice was quiet. He didn't trust it any louder. "No. No you don't."  
  
"Really?" Agatha insisted. "Got th' strangest feelin' a deja vu. Ya sure we ain't ne'er met 'fore?"  
  
"Maybe. In a past life."  
  
**********  
A/N: So that's the story. Whatcha think? I've been getting e-mail suggestions that I should continue this thing, semi-series like? Should I do a prequel? Sequel? Both ? Or neither? Press that little review button thigny and give me yer opinions. 


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